HC grants bail to Adilur, Elan

The High Court (HC) has granted bail to Adilur Rahman Khan, editor of human rights organization ‘Adhikar’ and its director ASM Nasir Uddin Elan in a case filed under the ICT Act.

A single bench of Justice Emdadul Haque Azad passed the order on Tuesday.

On September 14 this year, a special court sentenced Adilur and Elan to two-year imprisonment in the case. The court also fined them Taka 10 thousand each, and a month more behind the bars in default of the payment.

On September 25, they filed an appeal with the HC challenging the trial court verdict.

According to the case documents, Adilur and Elan deliberately made false claims regarding death of 61 people during a joint operation conducted by the law enforcement agencies on May 5 in 2013, to remove Hefajat-e-Islam activists and leaders from Shapla Chattar in city's Motijheel area, as they announced a night stay at the rally venue there.

The duo was accused of trying to create confusion among the Muslim devotees, spread hate against the law enforcement agencies and defame the government, said the case docs. 

DB Sub-Inspector (SI) Ashraful Islam made a general diary with Gulshan Police Station in this regard on August 10, 2013.

Chargesheet was submitted against the duo in Dhaka court on September 4 of that year. The trial started against them in 2014.